Jeremiah 19

1 Then the Lord said to me, “Go and get a molded clay jar, and bring along some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests.” 2 “And go out to the burial ground of the sons of their children, at the entrance of the Harsith Gate, and read out there all the words I speak to you.” [a] 3 “Say to them: Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and men of Judah, you who live in Jerusalem and you who come in through these gates. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Look, I am bringing disaster on this place — such that both ears of everyone who hears of it will ring.” 4 “Because they abandoned me and estranged this place, and burned incense in it to foreign gods that neither they nor their fathers knew, and the kings of Judah filled this place with innocent blood,” 5 “and built high places for Baal, to burn their sons in the fire — something I did not command or speak of, something that never entered my heart.”

6 “Therefore, look, days are coming, says the Lord, when this place will no longer be called ‘the Fall’ and ‘the burial ground of the son of Hinnom,’ but ‘the Burial Ground of Slaughter.’” 7 “And I will slaughter the counsel of Judah and the counsel of Jerusalem in this place. I will cut them down by the sword before their enemies, by the hands of those who seek their lives, and I will give their corpses as food to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth.” 8 “And I will make this city a ruin and a thing hissed at; everyone who passes by her will scowl and hiss over all her wounds.” 9 “And they will eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each will eat the flesh of his neighbor, in the blockade and in the siege their enemies press against them.” 10 “And you are to break the jar before the eyes of the men who go out with you,”

11 “and say: This is what the Lord says: In this same way I will shatter this people and this city, just as a clay pot shatters and cannot be made whole again.” 12 “This is what I will do, says the Lord, to this place and to those living in it, so that this city will be given over, like the place that is falling.” 13 “And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be like that falling place, because of their uncleanness in all the houses where they burned incense on their roofs to all the army of heaven and poured out drink offerings to foreign gods.” 14 And Jeremiah came back from the Fall, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and said to all the people: 15 “This is what the Lord says: Look, I am bringing on this city and on all her cities and villages every disaster I spoke against her, because they stiffened their neck and refused to listen to my words.”